It was already more than two months and two weeks ago, the last time he saw her. He met her at the opening ceremony and, for the first time in his life, fell in love. He felt like it was a joke, he was already a hundred years old werewolf and he fell in love with a twenty two years old pup and was now missing her like crazy. Whenever he would close his eyes, her smile and her blushing face would appear in his mind. Would everyone laugh at him if they knew?

"Let's go see her! Come on it has been a long time already. Make an excuse or something. It is our Academy, there must be something for us to do there!" Sky, his wolf, urged him for the hundredth time, but he already knew there was no viable reason.

Unfortunately in this case, the management of the Academy had been handled by him too well and things ran so smoothly by themselves that, other than the annual inspection, there was no need for his presence.

"We cannot go to the Academy. I already told you we have no reason to go there." He explained to his wolf, for the nth time.

"Even if we do not have a reason, we can still go! Don't tell me I am the only one who wants to see her?!" Sky insisted again, with a persistence that was truly uncharacteristic for the alpha wolf.

"No matter what you say we cannot go!" Salas denied firmly, trying to end the conversation once and for all. If he could call it a conversation, it felt more like the wolf was threatening him. And as to how he could do it, considering they both shared the same body, and thus could also harm himself in the process, well even though someone might think it could be practically impossible, it was in fact quite easy...

"If we do not go, I will howl until you go. I will not let you work. Every time you close your eyes you think of her as well. So why don't you want to go?" Sky asked again this time growling.

"Sky, I admit I like Celia, alright I love her. How it is possible to love someone after only meeting her twice I have no clue, but I do not understand you. I have asked you if you felt like she was our mate and you said you do not recognize her. I like her human side, but what about her wolf?" He sighed and rubbed his temple as he spoke inside his mind.

"I have no clue about her wolf, indeed I do not feel she is my mate, but still her human side... I do not know how to explain it, it is like she is half a mate or something like that." Sky mumbled confused, he tried to phrase as best he could his feelings, but he himself did not understand why he felt attracted to her human side, but not to her wolf.

Salas did not question Sky's affirmation at all. The wolf's words although strange and unusual if someone else other than him would hear it, to Salas they made sense in a way. That was how he felt about her as well, like half a mate, but would such a thing be possible?

He shrugged his thoughts, he had thought about his feelings many times in the past two months and a half without any conclusion. He also did not know who to ask without sounding weird or raising suspicions from the Council.

"Knock knock!"

"Come in!" He ordered shortly, looking again at the documents he was trying to read before with no luck.

"Your majesty, I have been informed that the students entered the forest for their exercise!" The assistant who had just entered the office informed Salas.

"Very well keep an eye on them. Make sure everyone is well protected!" Salas ordered not even looking to the young man who confirmed his orders and left again shortly after.

This entire time he continued looking at his documents, or at least tried to. Sky had really begun howling inside his mind, like he had said he would. The wolf was a really determined being, he sighed inaudibly.

Sky was really being unreasonable this time, he had already heard from the assistant that Celia had gone into the forest for the exercise, so naturally wouldn't be at the Academy. But it seemed the wolf thought it was even better like this.

He was now trying to convince Salas to go to the forest and meet Celia there.

Like he could just do that suddenly... to just go and be like...

'Hello everyone... I just left my entire work and ran inside the forest just to meet one of the students.' The scandal of the century, Salas thought dejectedly as he plopped his head on his desk.

Of course, Sky was still howling unbothered inside his mind. Unluckily for Salas, the wolf while not shifted and thus still in a spirit form, would not get tired... at all.

At the time he did not know that even with his protection the attack would still happen.

A week later finding her like that and then the agony of waiting to see if she lived or not was unbearable.

So he did something he had never done before, he transferred her to the Royal palace where she would be near him.

His order of moving her had surprised the doctors and the people from the palace, but nobody dared question him.

Waiting for a week for her to regain consciousness, he kept her company as much as he could. Only by being near her to see if she was well, could he breathe easily.

Then seeing her wake up, he did for her something unthinkable, he personally cared for her needs, even knowing it would raise more suspicions causing people from the Council to find out. Gabriel, the blabber mouth, was in the room with him after all at that time, so he could tattle on him. But he could not stop himself not to help.

They let her rest for a bit that day, but Salas was still worried about her so he returned to her room just in time to see her walking and almost falling. With swift steps he reached her and, quickly held her in his arms to stop her from falling.

With his werewolf senses and speed he could have easily reached her in time to assist her by only reaching for her arm, it was not really necessary to keep her so close to his body. It would have also been the gentleman thing to do. But at that time his body reflexively moved on its own, not to mention that Sky also wished for nothing more than to hug her, so he held her against his chest tightly. Alright, if he was to admit, this had also been his wish, his yearning...

Feeling her body in his arms he felt complete and, although his face did not show it, when she raised her eyes to look at him, the only thought in his mind had been how kissing her pink small lips would feel like.

He barely restrained himself, as he really did not want to scare her. How would she react if he gave into that feeling? Perhaps she would never want to see him again. So he only helped her to the bathroom and then informed the maids to bring dinner to her room. He at least wanted to be near her.

The next day, at breakfast, dark circles surrounded her eyes. An experience like the one she went through was not an easy thing at all, especially for a young girl like her. To kill someone for the first time and to also fight for your own life must have taken its toll on her, coupled with the wounds, her entire being felt frail. He was supposed to interview her after breakfast, to find out more from her about the attack, but seeing her like that he could not bear to.

So he did the one thing he knew cheered up his mother whenever she felt upset, he took her to his mother's garden. There he also searched for a baby bunny from the small burrow inside the ground, bringing it to her. Seeing her slight smile and the light in her eyes, he knew then that he made the right choice.

They walked around some more, as he saw her spirit would get brighter by the second. Knowing he was the one who made this happened, he could not be more pleased. He was also thrilled seeing her in the place that was the most nostalgic from his childhood, one of the few places that held happy memories of him with his mother.

But something unexpected happened when they arrived in front of his mother's most beloved flowers, the fairies' flowers. It was not his intention to check which color her touch would show, but perhaps liking them, Celia herself leaned towards them to touch one of the roses. He was just in the middle of explaining to her their meaning, when the color of her heart reflected on their previously translucent petals.

The blue was a color only meant for the royal family, no other werewolves could turn the petals of the roses to this color.

Dark blue color would only appear if he or his father touched the flowers and light blue only appeared if his mother, the mate of the king, touched them. Because of this his mother had often teased him as a child. She would always say she could not wait for the day the woman who would turn the rose petals light blue to appear for him as well.

As a quiet child he did not react to her words and always evaded her when she teased him of this, but in his heart he had always expected and yearned for the person who could turn the roses into the same color as his mother.

Seeing the beautiful girl bent over the flowers, smelling the blue rose with a tinge of red on her cheeks, his heart rate went up. It almost felt like it would jump out of his chest.

He looked for so many years for his mate, he had checked all the packs one by one when he came of age. He was certain he would find her, but over the years he had lost all hope. When he saw Celia at the airport that day, he felt for her what he never felt for another woman.

And when he saw her again at the academy, he fell completely under her spell. So as he saw her laying in her own blood, he felt his heart die with her, and only managed to revive when she woke up again. Sky, his wolf, was also mesmerized by this person. But strangely only by the human side of her. He did not recognize her wolf, so she did not feel like she was his mate in spite of such things.

His mother had told him that they would recognize each other at first glance. That there would be only one word which would come to both their minds, and their wolves' in that moment... "mate'. But sadly this word did not come to his mind, and he was certain it did not come to hers.

So the light blue color of the roses was an impossible color for her to appear. Was it because she was truly his mate... as his mother had said. And she concealed her real strength so well that he could not recognize her. Or was the rose blue because she was ranked first, the same as him, so the flowers recognized her as royalty?

His trail of thoughts was interrupted when she spoke to him, asking what the color meant. He wanted to say the real meaning, but he was afraid that it would shatter his hopes if she would say she was indeed not his mate. So he only said it meant a noble heart. His mother had been the kindest person he had ever seen in his life and Celia, judging by her previous actions, was not far from her.

The small tinge of flush on her cheeks as she registered the meaning behind the color was truly endearing he thought. Though he could not fully enjoy her expression because of his own inner turmoil.

The awkwardness was dispersed completely, as he received a phone call to inform him of Gabriel's arrival. To be interrupted when he was with Celia, he really would get annoyed if it had happened normally. But this time perhaps it was for the best.

He barely opened the door to his office and gestured to her to enter first when Celia was wrapped around by big male hands.

Seeing her in another man's arms, he did not yank her out of the other person's hands for fear of hurting her, but he let out a low growl, making the other person release her, but unfortunately still be near her.

"Gabriel, I did not mention for you to come alone. But surely not bringing someone was something I did not need to mention." Salas said, anger spilling from his voice even though he did not raise it.

"I am sorry your highness. I insisted and came on my own accord. I am the beta of the watcher pack, Jake Black. I could not stay relaxed in the Academy ground knowing my alpha is injured. So I dared..." Jake tried to say, he was already lowering his head showing his neck in submission. From the moment the door opened he felt an oppressing aura and it kept on increasing.

"I was not talking to you, beta." Salas simply said. He felt pangs of jealousy all over his heart and Sky was also growling in his mind. He only dared to touch her hand and she slightly flinched, but this guy hugged her. He was only the beta of the pack, why was there a need for such familiarity?

"Your highness I am sorry. I have not instructed my pack members well. I must not have assured Jake last night well of my health status, it is my fault. I apologize. It will not happen again." Celia quickly apologized.

Seeing her frightened face, he immediately released his oppressing aura. It was not his intention to frighten her.

"Alright. Do not apologize. It is not your fault." He said with a gentler voice.

"Joshua, lead the beta to the waiting room. He will wait there if he wants a word with his alpha. And afterwards help him on the way back.' He ordered looking at Celia, but the words he said were for his gamma, who had been in his office as well. By doing this, he made sure that they would talk a little and only in the presence of his gamma.

Joshua complied and immediately took the reluctant Jake to an adjacent room, leaving the others to discuss in the office.

When the meeting was over and Celia had provided valuable information to them, she took her leave and went out of the office with Micah, Salas's beta, to direct her towards the room Jake was waiting.

"Well, well, well. You do realize your face changed completely, from dark to light in a matter of seconds just now. What would the council say seeing you like this? Would they prepare the Luna ceremony or just skip right on to the wedding night?" Gabriel teasingly said, as he was the only one left in Salas's office.

He did not retort his words, but Salas's eyes felt like they could kill with just a look.

"Hey, hey. Go back to the previous light look. What if Celia comes back? You would not want to frighten the girl right?" Gabriel continued joking, not knowing he was stepping on a lion's tail.

"It seems like you have less work than you should have. Let's see what we could add to your schedule..." Salas said with a deep voice.

"Wait, wait. Maria is going to kill me if you add more to my work. I am sorry your highness." Gabriel quickly apologized, appearing truly repenting. The time he had to spend with his mate was already less as it was. Salas just stabbed at his weak point.

"But jokes aside. Is Celia your mate? You have never shown such care to a woman before." Gabriel asked sighing.

Salas was quiet, he did not know what to reply to Gabriel, but feeling the need for an advice, he finally spoke after some time.

"I do not know. Sky does not recognize her wolf, but we are both fond of her human side. Is she a mate?" Salas asked himself, while he was massaging his temples. He was truly going mad for asking advice from Gabriel, but he did not know who else to turn to.

"How is this possible? Both wolves would recognize each other at first glance." Gabriel frowned confused.

"That was what I knew too. But Sky said he does not recognize her wolf. Still my head is only filled with thoughts of Celia. Am I going crazy?" Salas finally admitted dejectedly.

"Wait a minute, you said wolf not wolves. Do you remember what I told you in the conference room at the hospital?" Gabriel said enlightened, and as if realizing something gestured with his hand as he raised two fingers, showing the number two.

"She has two wolves not one. Which one did Sky not recognize?" Gabriel asked as if to confirm his suspicions.

"It was a grey wolf with tinges of black." Salas conveyed Sky's description.

"That is her 4th ranked wolf. Did he not contact a white bigger wolf also?" Gabriel questioned again, his words filled with more hope each time.

"No. He said he only felt a grey wolf's presence." Salas replied pensively, as Sky assured him there really was no other presence inside her wolf's chamber.

"The white wolf is 1st ranked, but she keeps herself hidden deep within Celia's mind. We must make Celia bring out Waning then you can check again!" Gabriel reasoned.

"We cannot do that." Salas firmly denied. He did not even wait for a second to think before he replied.

"Why not. Don't you want to find your mate?" Gabriel frowned not understanding Salas's thoughts. The man had always wanted to find his mate, why was he so stubborn now?

"I do, but I do not want to force Celia. Sky may not have sensed Waning because she keeps herself too deep in Celia's mind, but Sky is in plain view in my own. Waning must have felt him. If she truly was his mate, why still keep herself hidden." Salas explained briefly.

"We can ask her when she is in the open. Or what... will you keep on waiting?" Gabriel tried to convince him again. He was surprised by how calm Salas was. His friend had searched high and low for his mate, now with the opportunity in front of him he did not try to do anything. Was he afraid of getting his hopes up for nothing and was that why he did not dare act?

He sighed when Salas did not answer, but still left something for Salas to ponder over.

"Whether she is or not your mate, you should find out. Wasn't this what you have been waiting for all this time, even keeping the Council at bay with regards to another woman? Salas, if you wait longer someone else might act faster than you."

Gabriel stated with one last reason and without referring to who, Salas already knew that he was referring to the overly worried beta from before.